Chain Drug Review, June 3, 2019

ANNUAL REPORT OF DRUG WHOLESALERS SPECIAL SECTION Three drug wholesalers unite against opioid abuse NEW YORK The top three drug wholesalers took major steps through foundation support in the past year to help curb opioid abuse Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp announced grants to help fight the scourge while McKesson Corp named distinguished leaders to head the independent opioidfocused foundation to which it has committed 100 million The AmerisourceBergen Foundation this spring awarded a grant to the U S Chamber of Commerce Foundation to support its effort to help business communities across the country address the opioid crisis With the AmerisourceBergen Foundations partnership the Chamber of Commerce Foundation along with a number of other sponsors including the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce Ohio Chamber of Commerce and Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry launched a 10 city tour to engage businesses and equip them with tools to combat opioid misuse The tour is also introducing the Sharing Solutions program a digital platform designed to educate employers on prevention strategies in regions that have been impacted by opioid misuse The AmerisourceBergen Foundation is committed to supporting community oriented partners that are innovating to address opioid misuse said president Gina Clark Employers are critical stakeholders in helping to address prescription medication misuse among our nations workforce and their families and we look forward to joining forces with the U S Chamber of Commerce Foundation to bring resources and best practices to businesses across the nation Central to the Sharing Solutions program is a Web based resource hub that aggregates credible resources including education and prevention techniques and allows employers and employees to easily access critical information at the click of a button As part of its interactive online platform Sharing Solutions enables companies to share their solutions to tackling the crisis including improved business processes employee support and community engagement The 10 city tour serves to increase awareness of the resource hub and provide an opportunity for business and community leaders to discuss how they can work together to address the issue The tour which includes a series of half day workshops for small and mid size businesses began in April and continues through the summer Each session is tailored to address the specific needs of the local community to support their efforts to address and prevent prescription medication misuse among employees and their families Upcoming stops include June 24 Lexington Ky July 16 Columbus Ohio August 23 Reading Pa Additional dates and stops to be added Were thrilled to launch the Sharing Solutions tour with AmerisourceBergen Foundation and provide critical resources to help businesses in at risk communities said Carolyn Cawley president of the U S Chamber of Commerce Foundation The AmerisourceBergen Foundation awarded the grant through its Opioid Resource Grant Program which enables the foundation to support and advance ideas from innovative nonprofits at the local and national level to fight against opioid misuse For its part the Cardinal Health Foundation last year awarded over 3 million in grants to more than 70 nonprofit organizations to support local efforts to combat the opioid epidemic across Ohio West Virginia Kentucky and Tennessee The grants were made through the Cardinal Health Foundations Generation Rx Major steps through foundation support to help curb opioid abuse program and funded by Cardinal Healths Opioid Action Program launched in 2017 Prevention education grants were awarded to expand medication safety education for thousands of students in K 12 schools and universities using Generation Rx educational materials There were also grants for best practices in pain medication use with the goal of supporting health care organizations as they work with prescribers to transform the way they help patients manage chronic non cancer pain with fewer opioids prescribed Other grants were for community level responses to support multi sector collaborative work to reduce opioid addiction overdoses and opioid related deaths in eight communities in Ohio home to Cardinal Healths headquarters and nearly 7000 employees Thanks to a multimillion dollar investment in the foundation through Cardinal Healths Opioid Action Program we are able to support many more organizations as they work to reduce the rate of opioid misuse and addiction in their communities said Jessie Cannon vice president of community relations at Cardinal Gina Clark AmerisourceBergen Foundation The Opioid Action Program is a multipronged initiative to help communities in four of the nations hardest hit states fight the opioid epidemic Each element of the program is cited by leading experts including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine NASEM and the Presidents Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis as critical to reducing opioid misuse abuse and addiction The program builds on Generation Rx created through a partnership with the Cardinal Health Foundation and the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy to raise awareness and knowledge about the dangers of prescription drug misuse Grantees participate in learning collaboratives led by subject matter experts who will help guide their work and share best practices Faculty and staff from the Ohio State pharmacy and social work colleges have provided medication safety education expertise and program evaluation to prevention education grantees and CompDrugs Youth to Youth International provided expertise in effective youth led prevention Pharmacists with expertise in pain management from Geisinger Health guided those working on best practices in pain medication use and community level response grantees were led by LEAD a nonprofit organization focused on prevention and community collaboration All of the organizations selected for funding share our goal of turning the tide on the opioid epidemic Cannon stated Ultimately we expect our grantees to learn from each other and we will learn from them As they develop best practices our goal is to spread this work throughout the country and foster solutions to this Karen Scott FORE complex public health crisis McKesson meanwhile named Dr Andrea Barthwell board chair and Dr Karen Scott president of the independent Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts FORE Dr Barthwell and Dr Scott are ideally suited to serve as leaders of and chief ambassadors for the foundation said John Hammergren who retired this spring as McKessons chairman and chief executive officer Dr Barthwell and Dr Scott bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their roles including deep experience in public policy and with nonprofit organizations McKesson is committed to helping advance solutions to the nations opioid crisis and these two impressive leaders will be critical change agents in the push for solutions Barthwell is a distinguished physician recognized as a pioneer in the field of addiction medicine and a contributor to the field of alcoholism and addiction treatment particularly the treatment of opioid dependence disorder She founded Two Dreams a holistic practice for people diagnosed with alcoholism and other substance use disorders The treatment center trains and consults extensively to help modernize the addiction treatment space Her career has struck a unique balance between research and practice which reflects her steadfast commitment to merging scientific inquiry with the human side of addiction She helped influence governmental policy as the deputy drug czar for treatment and prevention under President George W Bush at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy ONDCP She impacted patient care through her work with community based health care organizations national advisory boards such as the Food and Drug Administrations Drug Abuse Advisory Committee the National Institutes of Health at both Institutes for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and on the service side of government the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Andrea Barthwell FORE The people who are medically exposed to opioids or both affected by and afflicted with opioid use disorder deserve a coordinated focused effort that will work to create opportunities for them to use opioids for medical reasons safely or to give themselves the gift of recovery when afflicted with opioid use disorder said Barthwell There are people all over the country working in isolation to help patients with pain and or addiction their work needs to be highlighted and expanded FORE will be positioned to promote and package innovative solutions commission work to illuminate influence and educate on these solutions convene and leverage thought leaders and visionaries who can effect change and expand the conversation so that we can find real solutions that first do no harm to the patients at the center of this epidemic Scott is an accomplished health care leader with a wideranging academic background and experience across the broad spectrum of health care as a physician public health official national philanthropic leader hospital executive professor and senior Health and Human Services HHS leader A central focus throughout her career has been improving health care delivery and outcomes especially for more vulnerable populations Scott was a principal at Health Management Associates a national health care consulting firm focused on improving publicly funded health care through technical assistance resources decision support and expertise Previously she served as a senior HHS leader in the Obama administration where she fostered collaboration within and outside HHS to further national public health goals Scotts hospital administration and teaching experience has focused on delivery system quality improvement and patient safety In addition she spent nearly a decade at the Commonwealth Fund a national health care foundation working on improving care access and quality for underserved populations Chain Drug Review June 3 2019 51

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